The Cut, Poison, & Burn Club - Part One

Also Known As the American Healthcare System

I know that sounds harsh. I also know there are exceptions. That said, I hold to this conclusion, which came after many decades of observation and direct experience. Doctors seemed to know very little about actual health. They seemed to default to a kind of “You must be sick or could be sick” approach to their patients. I began to think of them as “disease hunters.” That’s what it felt like to me on the rare occasion when I found myself in the presence of one.

Later, I came to describe them as “The Cut, Poison, & Burn Club,” a complementary moniker to “disease hunters.” It seemed to me that all most doctors knew how to do to fix anything was to prescribe, cut, or burn in the case of “radiation therapy.” Arbitrary markers like age and sex determine what picking, poking, prodding, and testing needs doing — even if one had no signs of anything. It’s almost like they want to find something “wrong” with you. It’s kind of creepy. It’s kept me away from them for years.

So imagine my surprise — my happy surprise — when I saw something similar in the Comments section of Jeff Childers’ “Coffee & Covid” 11 February 2023 newsletter. Someone else shared my view! A commenter shared a wonderful story of healing. In it, he used an expression that inspired this newsletter. Here is the first paragraph of this informative, encouraging comment:

“My wife was told she had Stage 2B breast cancer July 23 2021. She panicked and scheduled a mastectomy. An hour before she was to leave to have the radioactive dye tracer shot and 21 hours before surgery, divine intervention led her to cancel. We were guided by wonderful lightwarriors who pointed us in the right direction. For 7 months, we read nothing but cancer books. Real cancer books, not Rockefeller medical murder mafia sanctioned propaganda books. Long story short. We completely changed our lifestyles and treated her cancer holistically. And she has been fine for over a year. there are over 300 things that kill cancer, none of which an MD is allowed to tell you, if indeed they even know. Slash burn poison is all they can do and keep their license. Slash is only called for if there is a life threatening blockage, skin cancer, and some uterine cancers. Otherwise, all you are doing spreading the cancer the body kindly bundled up for you while it tries to wake you the "F" up and fix whatever it is that caused healthy cells to mutate into cancer cells. Cancer is systemic. The tumor is not the problem,. It was formed to keep the cancer cells out of your bloodstream as much as possible so it does not get into your brain, the heart, or your lungs.” (Bold/italics added.)

Slash. Burn. Poison.

This person went on to talk about how he and his wife began to use a medicine available over the counter. The knowledge they gained and the results they’ve seen have ended their fear of cancer. Their experience, especially the horrific medical treatment they avoided, inspired me to share some of my own experience.

None of what I will share with you is medical advice, but I hope you’ll find it interesting and maybe inspirational. God designed us to be healthy. He designed us to heal — and He gave us what we need if we’ll just take a little time to look for it. Thankfully, the stories I’ll share involve nothing as serious as cancer, but they all involve conditions or injuries that more natural approaches and substances helped eliminate or control.

Shredding My Lower Back to Bits

I made my first visit to a chiropractor about 20 years ago. It came after weeks of suffering from one of my worst muscle tears. As a bodybuilder, (I was a natural bodybuilder for years and even have a trophy to prove it. 😊) I’d gotten hurt in the gym a number of times. Being familiar with discomfort, you learn to discern what your pain is telling you. In this case, within seconds of doing something I’d done a thousand times, I knew I’d really hurt myself this time. It felt like my back was on fire. It was the worst back injury I’d had to that point.

Pain. Stiffness. Afraid to move, holding my breath. I suffered for a couple of weeks, taking ibuprofen, but that hardly touched it. My hubs kept telling me to try a chiropractor while I kept thinking, “This has got to get better! I always heal.” When I’d finally just had one too many nights of interrupted sleep, being frustrated by having to pick up my right leg to move it into the car, taking steps one at a time, I got to work looking for a chiropractor. I found one near my office, read her reviews, and made an appointment.

I dragged my sorry self to see her. She seemed lovely. Very calm. I described what I did, where the pain was, and that it had barely subsided since the injury weeks before. Yup, got it, she said. This is what we’re going to do. With that, she helped me get on her table and told me to lay on my stomach. (Really, doc? Being on my stomach kills me.) With me face down and pretty damned uncomfortable (What have I done??), I feel her lift up my right hip. Ugh…Before letting it back down, she places this triangle-shaped block under it. This jacks up the right side of my butt. (How ridiculous do I look?) Instantly, this is what it felt like:

The relief was instant. For the first time in weeks, I exhaled. Deeply. She then placed a light blanket on me, told me to relax. The timer was on for 30 minutes. She’d be back. I was out of pain, stunned that relief was instant. By changing the angle of my hip?¹ And no “snapping and crunching?” Nope. The change in blood flow was palpable, the release of pressure and gentle stretch to the low back and glute...Ahhhhhhhh!!!

I left this appointment feeling like a new woman. So grateful for those pain-free 30 minutes and much diminished discomfort leaving. Really! One more visit. Then continue being careful with it, she said, and let it continue to heal, which it felt like it was finally doing. Within a few days, I was down to taking ibuprofen only at night and then off altogether. Was I ready to lift again? No. That took some more time, but I was healing. I will always remember her and feel grateful.

Here’s a Weird One - Pompholyx

How I managed to come up with this, I have no idea, but I managed to catch myself some. It’s a rash, but not just any old rash. It’s one the specializes. In hands. Sometimes feet. Only. WTH?

I got my “special rash” on my left hand. I noticed a few bumps. Thought little of it. Those few then had “children” and before you know it, I’ve got this “thing.” It’s on just the underside of the fingers on my left hand — middle finger, ring finger, pinky. The front side of my fingers was just red. Then it started to travel. To the pads below those fingers. From there down the side of my hand almost to my wrist.

OK. This is getting serious. It was pretty painless. The part normally visible to the “outside world,” the back of my hand, was red, but just the three fingers where the rash was on the other side. WTH. I had done something poking around online regarding rashes, but as this spread with no relief from topical eczema or steroid creams, I was really flummoxed. Hubs suggested going to a doctor…maybe? Uh. No.

I’d been searching on terms related to rashes and got the usual — eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, etc. Then one day, the light dawned on Marblehead and I took a shot with this: “hand rash.” Wouldn’t you know? There’s a thing. It’s called “pompholyx.” You can look it up if you’re curious. Mine was milder than a lot of what you’ll see, but it was still serious and bugging the crap outta me. All resources I found at the time said that this needs a doctor’s care. Pffff. No, it doesn’t, and I’m gonna find what works. (Thank you, God, for the Internet.)

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV with the Mother) to the Rescue

That’s right. Though unable to find them now, I came across a couple of articles related to ACV’s treatment of “hand rashes” written by people who’d had their own. Apple cider vinegar will cure my “pompholyx?” Hmm. I knew of ACV’s many uses and miracles, but a hand rash? (Visit The Alternative Daily for more info, including when to avoid ACV. It’s some powerful stuff.) Well before my hand rash, I’d actually downloaded a PDF from The Alternative Daily on 81 different uses for the Godsend. I’d already gotten a small bottle with a gallon backup. Now I learn it can vanquish a squishy hand rash? That’s 82.

The people who wrote of their experiences using ACV said to dilute it in water. Oh, not me. If I’m doing this, I’m going for the gusto — doing it straight. No watered-downed solution for moi.

OK. To say I gasped after applying it “straight” is an understatement. Oh, my God, did it sting. The red and very sensitive back side of my fingers lit up. Oh, for Pete’s sake! I’m not doing this! Under the running water my hand went. Are those people crazy? Putting an acid on a rash? What was I thinking?

A couple more weeks go by and I’ve still got this damned rash. It’s found a home and plans to stay, it seems. I can’t take this. So one morning I decide I’m going to try the ACV one more time. It’s very early. I’m by myself. Drenching a big piece of cotton with the stuff, I start to dab it on — undiluted. Same reaction, but this time, I’m stickin’ to it. Hand is soaked with ACV. I hold it up and just wait, breathing through the stinging. Then it stopped. The vinegar dried, the smell went away. Treatment No. 1. Whew.

Did the same thing right before I went to bed that night. Treatment No. 2. Same stinging, same holding the hand up in the air until it stopped. Next morning, I wake up, look at my hand, and I think I’m seeing things. The rash, though still there, is way down and the redness on the back is practically gone. OK. This can’t be. Got up and gave myself Treatment No. 3.

Within a matter of days of two treatments a day, a rash that had been with me for months was gone. Completely. Done. As if it had never been there. Even hubs was a bit incredulous. Putting my hands side-by-side under the kitchen sink light, I said, “Look! They look the same. It’s gone…” Any attempt at a come back was swiftly dealt with until it finally gave up altogether. It’s been years now.

Hereditary Hemchromatosis

What is that, you ask? Well, it’s an inherited condition that causes the body to store iron in excess amounts. The Irish, for some reason, have cornered the market on this condition.

“…hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is tightly linked to mutations within the hemochromatosis gene (HFE gene). Over 93% of Irish HH patients are homozygous for the HFE gene C282Y mutation…” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11551098/

To simplify things greatly, excess iron can lead to havoc in all major organs, especially the liver (cirrhosis) Excess iron storage has also been associated with the development of cancer, diabetes, arthritis. It’s also associated with drops in testosterone leading to erectile dysfunction. Nice. (Low iron storage levels, OTOH, have been shown to be a factor in maintaining testosterone levels, increasing longevity, and having anti-aging effects. Who knew?)

Guess whose husband is Irish? STL’s. Guess who got lucky enough to have both parents carrying the HH gene mutation? He did. He’s one of those 93%.

November - December 2018

Making a long story short, props go to STL’s husband’s doctor -- a man my husband saw infrequently, like when he tore his Achilles' tendon. With my husband's insistence that his issue was not anemia,² his doctor ran additional tests, including a DNA test for that mutation. Et voilà! You've got hereditary hemochromatosis. Nice.

So, hub’s doctor refers him to a hematologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Needham, MA site. She specializes in blood cancer. Of course she does. Why wouldn’t she? Meanwhile, yours truly is now on a mission. Whatever there is to learn about HH, she’s going to learn it — fast — including how to treat it. (There is no cure. One only keeps it under control.) I was up before dawn for I forget how many days, studying all I could find before leaving for work.

Once I wrapped my head around it, I then set about searching for (natural) ways to combat it. The body is programmed to store excess iron. How do we help it eliminate it before the body sends it to place like the liver or kidneys?

Using a Sledgehammer When a Feather Will Do

In the meantime, hubs goes to the hematologist. He tells her he doesn’t have cancer, so get over it. (LOL!) She insists on an MRI of his midsection just to be sure. He was right — thankfully. What it did show was iron stores in his liver. We had to figure out how to reduce that.

Treatment “options.” There were like four, maybe, but I remember only two. The first was — get ready for it — giving blood or “bloodletting.” Yup. It actually has a real purpose and health benefit for HH. I’d come across this in my own research. Based on what I’d learned, it actually helps lower iron stores. Not a great thing to go through, but it’s relatively painless and fairly non-invasive.

The second “option” was admission to the ICU overnight for an iron-eliminating, but life- threatening, “treatment.” TheExperts™ would do whatever the hell that required being in an ICU to do it. Honestly, I did not inquire on the details because that was not going to happen. Costs many, many thousands of dollars, requires overnight in an ICU, puts your life at risk, but it “works.”

Uh, huh.

So, Where Did I Read About (Natural) Iron Chelation?

More to come in Part Two.

1. Make a note of this — how hips play a role in pain.

2. Anemia and iron overload share similar symptoms. Getting treated for anemia when one actually has iron overload can lead to worsening symptoms and organ damage.